May 14 It’s national smile month

It’s national smile month (May 14-June 14), so who cares if it’s a commercial money-grabbing effort to make toothpaste bosses richer? Because here are some other reasons to turn your mouth up at the edges, boost your mood and break into a beaming happy face.

1. Smiling is actually contagious. Neurons in our brains have a feature that keeps us in sync with whoever we speak to. This means that if they smile, we smile too. How beautiful.

2. Smiling is like medicine. This is because when you smile broadly enough to crinkle your eyes, the amount of cortisol in your body reduces – boosting the immune system. Amazing, eh?

3. Similarly, if you force out a smile even if you are just faking it and feeling sad, the endorphins produced in the act of pretending to smile will lift your mood anyway. Thanks to those endorphins.

4. Smiling is the universal language of happiness. All over the world, humans (and some animals too) recognize the meaning of a smile.

5. Scientists found that there are 19 different kinds of smile, from polite to overjoyed and several in between.

6. Employees who smile often are likelier to be promoted perhaps because it suggests you are friendly and easy to work with.